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Saturday, November 17, 2012

Pride and Prejudice: 27% Complete

I'm just plugging along! I find myself trying to read more slowly so the book will last longer, but no such luck! I'm just loving it so much and I know, from past experience, that nothing ever replaces reading a great book the first time.

The vocabulary word I have for you today is "probity" which is "the quality of having strong moral principles." (definition from the New Oxford American Dictionary)

The quote for today relates somewhat to the vocabulary word (I know, gasp!) and is about one of my favorite characters in the book, the oldest Bennet sister: Jane. She is sweet and unassuming and always reading to think well of anyone and everyone. In this particular passage, her sister, Lizzy, is recounting a story that puts two of the characters, Mr. Wickham and Mr. Darcy, at odds with one another. It's clear that either Mr. Wickham is lying or Mr. Darcy is a terrible person but Jane is determined to find some middle ground between the two. Austen writes:

"...Nothing remained therefore to be done, but to think well of them both, to defend the conduct of each, and throw into the account of accident or mistake whatever could not be otherwise explained."

I like Jane and this passage in particular mostly because I find myself doing the same thing, often to a fault: trying to think well of people even in the face of evidence to the contrary.